Prague City Tourism (PCT) will celebrate its 65th anniversary and hold several cultural and educational events for residents and visitors to the city.
One of them will be guided tours of Prague’s main towers, which can be visited for the symbolic price of CZK 65.
The campaign will start on February 11, 2023, from the Old Town Hall tower and will run gradually every weekend until Easter, April 10.
For CZK 65, you can visit seven of Prague’s main towers, as well as the mirror maze on Petřín:
- Lesser Town Bridge Towers
- New Mill Water Tower
- Petřín lookout tower
- Powder Tower
- Old Town Bridge Tower
- St Nicholas Bell Tower
- Old Town Hall Tower
+ Mirror Maze on Petrin Hill
Part of the visit will include a free guide who will explain guests the history of a particular site. The detailed schedule of the event will be published by PCT at a later date.
The entrance fee to one of the Prague towers is 150 CZK on a regular basis.
Weather records have been falling across Europe at a disconcerting rate in the last few days, say meteorologists.
The warmest January day ever was recorded in at least eight European countries including Poland, Denmark, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Belarus, Lithuania and Latvia, according to data collated by Maximiliano Herrera, a climatologist who tracks extreme temperatures.
In Korbielów, Poland, the mercury hit 19C – a temperature the Silesian village is more used to in May, and 18C above the 1C annual average for January. In Javorník in the Czech Republic, it was 19.6C, compared with an average of 3C for this time of year.
Temperatures in Vysokaje, Belarus, would normally hover around zero at this time of year. On Sunday they reached 16.4C, beating the country’s previous record January high by 4.5C.
“Elsewhere on the continent, local records were broken at thousands of individual measuring stations, with nearly 950 toppled in Germany alone from 31 December to 2 January”, Herrera said.
Northern Spain and the south of France basked in beach weather, with 24.9C in Bilbao, its hottest-ever January day, and records broken at stations in Cantabria, Asturias and the Basque region. Only Norway, Britain, Ireland, Italy and the south-east Mediterranean posted no records.
“We can regard this as the most extreme event in European history,” Herrera said. “Take the case of July 2022 UK extreme heatwave and spread this sigma (magnitude) in a much huger area, encompassing about 15 countries.
“We can arguably say this is the first time an extreme weather event in Europe (in terms of extreme heat) is comparable to the most extreme in North America.”
Alex Burkill, a senior meteorologist at the Met Office, agreed it was an extreme weather event. “It’s been extreme heat across a huge area, which is almost, to be honest, unheard of,” he said.
Burkill said a warm air mass that developed off the west coast of Africa had travelled north-east across Europe from Portugal and Spain, pulled in by high pressure over the Mediterranean.
“It has been widespread, Denmark, Czech Republic, as well as pretty much the whole of Germany have seen temperatures for January exceeding records,” Burkill said.
“It’s also worth noting, we had some exceptionally warm weather in the south of England. New Year’s Eve, I think about seven sites in southern England recorded their warmest ever New Year’s Eve on record.”
The meteorologist Scott Duncan said the temperatures across Europe were staggering. “We had a very warm new year last year but this blows that out of the water,” he said. “We observed longstanding records broken by large margins across several countries.”
Causes were difficult to ascertain, said Duncan, with La Niña and anomalous warmth in sea surfaces playing a role. “None of the above here is new though, so what took extreme to record-smashing status? Our warming atmosphere and oceans are ultimately making records easier to break.”
-
President Miloš Zeman and the First Lady received Prime Minister Petr Fiala and his wife for the traditional New Year’s lunch at Lány Chateau on Monday. The main issues on the agenda were key domestic and foreign policy issues relating to the war in Ukraine, the energy crisis
-
The three-day search for a 40-year-old Czech woman and her three-year-old boy was called off on Monday after a rescue team found their dead bodies in the Giant Mountains not far from the guest house where they were staying. Police are investigating the cause of death.
-
The start of the New Year has kicked off the largest and most successful fund-raiser in the country. The Three Kings Collection, organized by the Catholic charity Caritas, involves thousands of volunteers, most of them children.
-
After a record-warm turn of the year, above-average temperatures will continue into the first week of January. On weekdays, high afternoon temperatures will soar to 10°C, with a cooldown coming over the weekend, Meteorologist Dagmar Honsová said.
-
The record for the highest-ever January temperature in Czechia was broken on New Year’s Day. A balmy 19.6 degrees Celsius was recorded in Javorník in the Olomouc region in the morning, breaking the previous record of 18.8 degrees, recorded in Vaňov in the Ústí nad Labem region on January 29, 2002.
Former world number one tennis player Martina Navratilova said on Monday she has been diagnosed with throat and breast cancer.
The Czech-American is considered among one the greatest players of all time, winning a total of 59 Grand Slam titles across singles and doubles.
“This double whammy is serious but still fixable,” the 66-year-old said in a statement to WTA.
“I’m hoping for a favourable outcome. It’s going to stink for a while, but I´ll fight with all I have got.”
Czech-born Navratilova, who became a U.S. citizen in 1981, was also diagnosed and beat breast cancer back in 2010.
Navratilova added that the cancer was in Stage 1, and the prognosis are good, with treatments to begin next week.
The cancer was first discovered in early November during the WTA finals when Navratilova noticed a swelling in her neck that did not go down.
“Martina noticed an enlarged lymph node in her neck during the WTA finals in Forth Worth,” said Navratilova’s representative Mary Greenham. “When it didn’t do down, a biopsy was performed, the results came back as Stage 1 throat cancer.
“At the same time as Martina was undergoing the tests for the throat, a suspicious form was found in her breast, which was subsequently diagnosed as cancer, completely unrelated to the throat cancer.
“Both of these cancers are in their early stages with great outcomes.”
Greenham said that Navratilova, who now works as tennis presenter on television and radio, will not travel to Melbourne for the Jan. 16-29 Australian Open but hopes to contribute to the broadcasts remotely.
“Martina won’t be covering the Aussie Open for the Tennis Channel from their studio but hopes to join in from time to time by Zoom,” said Greenham.
Fancy some buuz, khuushuur, or tsuivan? Head to Letná to have a taste of these authentic Mongolian delights.
These dishes are served by a man with an equally tongue-twisting name – Dashnyam Boldsaikhan who has fulfilled his lifelong professional dream, and thanks to him, you can taste Mongolian dishes in Prague.
But first of all, let’s explain what are these dishes. Buuz is a type of steamed dumpling filled with hand-chopped meat; khuushuur is a classic guilty pleasure, something like a Mongolian langos, dough fried, filled with meat, and typically eaten warm with your hands, while tsuivan is a dish of homemade noodles.
Those looking for outright gastro-exoticism should try banshtai tsai, traditional salty Mongolian tea with ghee and meat dumplings.
“I’m very satisfied. When you cook a meal, bring it to the table, and people enjoy it, that’s the best feeling,” says Boldsaikhan, also known as Boogi, the owner and head chef of UB Restaurant. The abbreviation UB stands for the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar.
Simplicity is key – even the dishes from the vast land of Genghis Khan’s descendants are actually simple. Food is a reflection of the national soul, and the former nomads logically didn’t have much time for extensive vegetable cultivation. Therefore, the basis is meat, mostly beef and mutton, and flour.
The essence of Mongolian cuisine could be huitsai, an extra hearty soup with meat dumplings, slices of meat, fried potatoes, and glass noodles, topped with a fried Mongolian dumpling. Sounds appetizing, right?
But how did Boogii and these dishes get here? It’s a story spanning several decades and three major cities thousands of kilometers apart. “Czechia is the promised land for me. And I dreamed of opening a restaurant here,” he shares with undisguised enthusiasm.
He began his career in Ulaanbaatar as a bank clerk but was drawn to gastronomy, leading him to take cooking courses with a now-famous Mongolian chef. After losing his job and needing to support his family, he, like many Mongolians, went to work in South Korea. In 2007, he first headed to Central Europe.
“My brother-in-law had been living in Prague for thirty years, and a friend convinced me to meet him in person. I was immediately excited,” he recalls. “It’s peaceful here, Czechia is a great place for families and has a high level of education, which is most important to me because of my children. Plus, there’s no stress and social pressure like in Asia.”
“We have three types of guests,” Boogii explains. “First are Czechs who have visited Mongolia and liked our food, but then had nowhere else to eat it – and now they are thrilled. The second are Mongolians living in Czechia, who like to have what they don’t often cook at home. And the third are people who like to try something new.”
The family business offers not only dishes from their homeland but also Korean and Japanese cuisine. “My greatest strength is that I can cook them all, and thus I am responsible for their quality,” says Boogii.
“The first goal is to have a restaurant full of satisfied customers,” he outlines. “And then I would like to open a chain across Prague and the whole Czech Republic, maybe even smaller bistros. I believe it will succeed.”
The restaurant also offers food delivery through Wolt and Bolt, as well as online delivery through their website. But if you want an authentic environment and a chill place to enjoy your food, head to their restaurant, open daily till 10 pm.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the Czech Republic and Prime Minister Petr Fiala for supporting Ukraine on its path to membership in the European Union during the presidency of the Council of the EU.
“Grateful to friendly Czechia and Prime Minister Petr Fiala for supporting Ukraine on the way to EU membership during the presidency of the Council of the EU,” Zelensky wrote on his Twitter account.
The President added that Ukrainians appreciate the preservation of EU unity and unchanging solidarity with Ukraine in the fight against Russian aggression. “Together we will win!” Zelensky wrote.
The Czech Republic handed over the presidency of the EU Council to Sweden on January 1.
Zelensky recounts a year that ‘struck our hearts’ in his final address of 2022
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine delivered a rousing New Year’s Eve address on Saturday night, recalling a year that he said truly “began on Feb. 24” with fear over Russia’s invasion but ended with his country hopeful for victory.
“We have overcome the panic,” he said. “We did not run away but united. We have overcome doubts, despair and fear.”
“This year has struck our hearts,” he said, according to a translated transcript posted on his official website. “We’ve cried out all the tears. All the prayers have been yelled. 311 days. We have something to say about every minute.”
The speech was just one of the hundreds Mr. Zelensky has given this year in a relentless campaign not only to steel his country to fight Russia’s army but to galvanize support for Ukraine abroad.
While the history of most wars is written by the victor after the fact, Mr. Zelensky has created a story line of the war against Russia in real time, a running narrative telling Ukrainians in nightly video addresses how they should view the battles, justify their hardships and believe in the country’s ultimate success.
As the New Year approached, Mr. Zelensky recounted moments of despair and triumph alike, and heralded the resolve of his fellow Ukrainians. The first missiles in February, he said, “destroyed our labyrinth of illusions” but had also shown Ukrainians “what we are capable of.”
“This is the year when Ukraine changed the world, and the world discovered Ukraine,” he said. “We were told to surrender. We chose a counterattack! We were told to make concessions and compromises. We are joining the European Union and NATO.”
The start of the New Year has kicked off the largest and most successful fund-raiser in the country – the now traditional Three Kings Collection, organised by the Catholic charity Caritas.
Money collected during the “Three Kings Collection” is used first of all to help sick, disabled, and elderly people, mothers with children in need and other groups of socially disadvantaged people especially in the regions where the collection is held.
Approximately one-tenth of the proceeds are used for humanitarian aid and development abroad.
A group of carolers is made by children dressed as the Three Kings (or Magi from the East), who came to Bethlehem to adore Jesus.
The volunteer “kings” go caroling from house to house, leaving their initials – ‘K + M + B’ – above the door frames as a symbol of blessing.
The collection takes place in the first two weeks of January. The carolers bear a money box sealed with a logo of the Caritas Czech Republic and their leader – adult – has a Caritas ID card.
The Three Kings Money Collection is the largest volunteer event in the Czech Republic.
Since 2000, it has raised overall 1.5 billion crowns in aid of the needy. Last year it took place exclusively online raising 81.5 million crowns.
People can support the collection through bank transfer to the account number 66008822/0800 or via “donatory SMS” – text DMS KOLEDA is sent to the number 87777. Out of the message’s price 30 CZK, 27 crowns are sent to the charity (1 EUR = 25.3 CZK).
For information on how to donate go to www.trikralovasbirka.cz.
Prague is set to see the goodbye concert of Kiss, a return of Maroon 5 and the first-ever visit of Jack Black’s Tenacious D.
He is breaking musical records and rewriting the history of what is possible in the music business – for example, when he sold out 100,000 tickets in ten minutes before the release of his debut album. We are talking about the British singer Lewis Capaldi, who will perform at Prague’s O2 Arena on 17 February.
The same location will host on 21 February, the English singer-songwriter and guitarist George Ezra.
After three years, Maroon 5 will return to Prague with their charismatic singer Adam Levine. For their concert this year, they chose the airport in Prague’s Letňany. They will perform there on 21 June.
Less than two months later, the five-time Grammy Award-winning Canadian R&B singer The Weeknd will attract tens of thousands of fans to the same venue. He will bring to the capital a world show called After Hours til Dawn.
June will see Kiss perform its 10th concert in the Czech Republic and, since this is part of the legendary band’s End of the Road World Tour, it’s guaranteed to be an epic goodbye in Prague’s O2 Arena.
Czechia’s largest indoor stadium is set to host two Iron Maiden concerts in May.
The first month of summer will also see the Czech capital host the American comedy rock duo Tenacious D. Jack Black, whom you may remember from the 2003 movie School of Rock, will be entertaining visitors together with Kyle Gass in the Forum Karlín.
The same venue will also be hosting blues-rock sensation Larkin Poe in October.
From Jan. 1, Sweden assumes Presidency of the EU, replacing the government of the Czech Republic.
On the last day of 2022, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, thanked the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic for the fruitful presidency of the EU over the previous six months
“Dear Petr Fiala, congratulations on your successful Czech Presidency of the EU in 2022. Your leadership was instrumental in maintaining our EU unity and ambition on crucial files. From supporting Ukraine to addressing the energy crisis and in delivering on our EU Green Deal. Děkujeme mnohokrát,” Ursula von der Leyen wrote on Twitter.
The Swedish Presidency of the EU completes the “EU trio presidency program,” which was opened by France in early 2022 and continued by the Czech Republic.
It was these two countries that faced the vital tasks and challenges associated with Russian aggression against Ukraine and its consequences, including the energy and food crisis, and the need to strengthen European security.
Political, economic, financial, humanitarian and military support to Ukraine will also remain among the main priorities of the Swedish Presidency of the EU.
-
The minimum wage increased to CZK 17,300 as of January 1, 2023. The salaries of policemen, firefighters and soldiers were raised by 10%, and the salaries of top politicians, judges and prosecutors by 12.7%.
-
With the end of 2022, the six-month Czech presidency of the EU Council has also ended, with Sweden taking the rains as of January 1. PM Petr Fiala said the presidency was a success that helped promote the interests of Czech citizens and showed the professionalism of the people who participated in it.
-
One-third of restaurants and clubs inspected in the Czech Republic in October were found to be in violation of regulations on the ban on smoking and the sale of alcohol to minors, according to the chief public health officer of the Ministry of Health yesterday.
-
The EU’s use of natural gas between August and November 2022 fell by 20.1%, compared to the average consumption for the same period between 2017 and 2021, according to data released by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, and submitted by the national statistical institutes of the member countries.
-
The record for the highest-ever January temperature in Czechia was broken on New Year’s Day. A balmy 19.6 degrees Celsius was recorded in Javorník in the Olomouc region in the morning, breaking the previous record of 18.8 degrees, recorded in Vaňov in the Ústí nad Labem region on January 29, 2002.
January 1, 2023, will mark 30 years since the foundation of the Czech Republic, and its capital city will celebrate with lights, flags, and a special tram.
1 January 2023 marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the independent Czech state.
As part of the celebrations, Prague will illuminate some buildings in the national colours from 4 p.m. on this day, specifically the New Town Hall on Mariánské náměstí, the Petřín Lookout Tower, the Rudolfinum, as it was here that My Country was sung on 1 January 1993, and the walls under the Metronome on Letná.
“The Czech Republic will celebrate this special anniversary on the first of January. We have therefore decided to commemorate it in a subtle way by lighting up the buildings and flying Czech flags in the streets of Prague. For all that it has faced over the last thirty years, it undoubtedly deserves it,” said Zdeněk Hřib, Prague Mayor.
“We have traditionally installed the flags on public lighting poles at historically significant places in the centre of the capital. A total of 59 of them already adorn Wenceslas Square and Na Příkopě and Národní streets. However, the tricolour colours will also appear in other important places. We have prepared the ceremonial lighting of the wall under the pendulum on Letná, the Rudolfinum building, the Prague City Hall and the Petřín Tower,” said Tomáš Jílek, Chairman of the Board of Directors
“The above mentioned places will shine in Czech colours until the morning hours of January 2nd. We believe that it will be a festive spectacle appropriate to the importance of the event,” he added.
On Sunday, 1 January 2023, from 8:00 to 20:00, the entire metro network will also be filled with announcements saying, “For 30 years we have been running our own line as an independent Czech Republic. Let us, therefore, wish ourselves a happy journey in the future. Your capital Prague.”
As on similar anniversaries or holidays, the trams will be decorated with flags of the Czech Republic.
“And on 26 January 2023, a special tram will take to the streets of Prague to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the election of Václav Havel as the first Czech president. It will also commemorate the greatest achievements of our republic over the last thirty years, such as joining NATO, the victory of the hockey players at the Nagano Olympics and joining the European Union,” added Adam Scheinherr, Deputy Mayor of Prague.
Czechia is heading to the polls to elect a new president in January to replace the controversial Miloš Zeman after a ten-year tenure in office.
While it is unlikely that any candidate will win the majority of the votes in the first round, three have emerged as leading contenders to enter a run-off.
The ANO party, which sits with the liberal and centrist Renew Europe Group in the EU Parliament, supports former Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, currently polling at around 27%.
The centre-right and national-conservative SPOLU alliance of ODS (ECR Group in the EU Parliament), KDU-ČSL and TOP 09 (EPP Group) endorsed three candidates; Petr Pavel, a non-partisan and former military general, polling at around 25%, and Danuše Nerudová, a non-partisan and economics professor, polling at around the same level. Currently rising in the polls, she would be the first woman to hold the position.
The last of the three candidates endorsed by SPOLU, Fischer, has little chance of making it into the second round as per current polling (5-6%). Fischer is a former diplomat and senator. He won 10.2% in the first round of the 2018 Presidential election.
Marek Hilšer, head of his own centrist Marek Hilšer do Senátu party (no EU-level affiliation), is polling at around 4%, down from 8.8% in the 2018 election.
Centre-left Josef Středula (supported by ČSSD, which sits with the S&D Group in the EU Parliament) and right-wing SPD (ID Group in the EU Parliament) party candidate Jaroslav Bašta are polling at around 3%. Several independent candidates are polling at less than 3%.
Our take:
The January presidential elections in the Czech Republic will mark the end of Zeman’s ten-year tenure in office. Characterised by his pro-Russian and pro-Chinese views, he has often distorted the government’s foreign policy and undermined the legitimacy of the presidential office by bending the constitution.
Together with former prime minister Andrej Babiš, they formed a duo that kept each other in power. It is Babiš who is now seeking the presidency, which would mean the return of his populism and “pragmatism” to the Czech leadership.
Babiš, who is currently in the final stages of a trial over EU subsidy fraud, among other problems, is leading in some polls. Pavel carries with him the stigma of active membership in the Communist Party but has since built a reputation abroad and is strongly pro-Western.
Nerudová also has a strong chance of winning, but even she is not without blemishes, for example, the dubious awarding of degrees at her university, an unfolding scandal that may yet affect her chances at the ballot box.
Neither Pavel nor Nerudová would disrupt the EU, but the same cannot be said of erratic Babiš. However, run-off polls suggest that Babiš is unlikely to win the presidency, especially if the former head of government goes up against either Pavel or Nerudová.